Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T14:09:12.960Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Standardized Assessment of Depressive Disorders (Sadd) in Ghana

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

M. Z. Majodina  and
F. Y. Attah Johnson
M. Z. Majodina
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Ghana Medical School, P. O. Box 4236, Accra, Ghana
F. Y. Attah Johnson
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Jos, P.M.B. 2084, Jos, Nigeria
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

A study on the Standardized Assessment of Depressive Disorders (SADD) in collaboration with WHO Headquarters, Geneva, is reported in this paper. The instruments used for the study were screening forms and the SADD schedule, both of which were supplied by WHO. Fifty depressed patients were selected from the outpatients and inpatients of the Accra psychiatric hospital by experienced specialist psychiatrists using the screening forms. The two investigators then carried out a clinical assessment on each selected patient using the SADD schedule. The data collected were subjected to computer analysis. Findings were similar to those from previous WHO/SADD studies in different cultures. Specifically, the investigators found a “core” of depressive symptomatology among African patients in Ghana. An interesting finding was the change in the presentation of depression in African patients over the past 30 years. Broad diagnostic groupings like endogenous depression and psychogenic depression could easily be applied to the study patients. There is a great need for more SADD studies in Africa.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 143 , Issue 5 , November 1983 , pp. 442 - 446
Copyright
Copyright © 1983 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Asuni, T. (1961) Suicide in western Nigeria. First Pan-African Psychiatric Conference Report (ed. Lambo, T. A.). Ibadan, Nigeria: Government Printer.Google Scholar
Asuni, T. (1972) Diagnostic aspects of depression from a transcultural point of view. In Aspects of Depression: Papers read at World Psychiatric Association Symposium on Aspects of Depression. Madrid, May 1972 (ed. Lader, M. and Garcia, R.).Google Scholar
Binitie, A. (1971) A Study of Depression in Benin, Nigeria. M.D. Thesis submitted to the University of London. Unpublished.Google Scholar
Buchan, T. (1969) Depression in African patients. South African Medical Journal, 43, 1055–8.Google Scholar
Carothers, J. C. (1947) A study of mental derangement in Africans and an attempt to explain its peculiarities, more especially in relation to the African attitude to life. Journal of Mental Science, 93, 548–97.Google Scholar
Carothers, J. C. (1953) The African Mind in Health and Disease. WHO Monograph Series No. 17, Geneva: WHO.Google Scholar
Collomb, H. & Zwingelstein, J. (1961) Depressive states in an African community (Dakar). First Pan-African Psychiatric Conference Report (ed. Lambo, T. A.). Ibadan, Nigeria: Government Printer.Google Scholar
Ebie, J. C. (1972) Some observations on depressive illness in Nigerians attending a psychiatric outpatient clinic. African Journal of Medical Science, 3, 149–55.Google Scholar
German, G. A. (1969) Psychiatric morbidity amongst a Uganda population. British Journal of Psychiatry, 115, 1323–9.Google Scholar
Gordon, H. L. (1936) An inquiry into the correlation of African civilization and mental disorder in the Kenya native. East African Medical Journal, 12, 327–35.Google Scholar
Green lees, T. D. (1895) Insanity among the natives of South Africa. Journal of Medical Science, 41, 71–82.Google Scholar
Jablensky, A., Sartorius, N., Gulbinat, W. & Ernberg, G. (1981) Characteristics of depressive patients contacting psychiatric services in four cultures. A report from the WHO collaborative study on the assessment of depressive disorders. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 701, 1–18.Google Scholar
Lambo, T. A. (1956) Neuropsychiatric observations in the Western region of Nigeria. British Medical Journal, 2, 1388–94.Google Scholar
Lamont, A. M. & Blignault, W. T. (1953) A study of male Bantu admissions at Westkoppies during 1952. South African Medical Journal, 27, 637–9.Google Scholar
Laubscher, B. J. F. (1937) Sex custom and psychopathology. London: Routledge (quoted in Prince (1968).Google Scholar
Leighton, A. H., Lambo, T. A., Hughes, C. C. Leighton, D. C., Murphy, J. M. & Macklin, D. B. (1963) Psychiatric Disorder among the Yoruba. New York: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Moffson, A. (1953) A study of 400 consecutive male Bantu admissions to Westkoppies mental hospital. South African Medical Journal, 29, 689–92.Google Scholar
Olatawura, M. O. (1973) The problems of diagnosing depression in Nigeria. Psychopathologie Africaine, IX, 389–403.Google Scholar
Pfeiffer, W. (1968) The symptomatology of depression viewed transculturally. Transcultural Psychiatric Research Review, 5, 121.Google Scholar
Prince, R. H. (1968) The changing picture of depressive syndromes in Africa: Is it fact or diagnostic fashion? Canadian Journal of African Studies, 1, 177–92.Google Scholar
Sartorius, N., Jablensky, A., Gulbinat, W. & Ernberg, G. (1980) Application of WHO scales for the assessment of depressive states in different cultures. In Epidemiological Research as Basis for the Organization of Extramural Psychiatry. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, Suppl. 285. 62, 205–11.Google Scholar
Shelley, H. & Watson, W. H. (1936) An investigation concerning mental disorder in the Nyasaland natives. Journal of Mental Science, 82, 701–30.Google Scholar
Tooth, G. (1950) Studies in mental illness in the Gold Coast. Colonial Research Publications, No. 6. London: H.M.S.O. Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.